Returning to the Grand Line
by KuroKame
Summary: [one shot] This story is an independent sequel to my story "Reaching your goal." Set 6-7 years after the Alabasta arc, no spoilers unless you don't know about the sixth crewmember.


**Returning to the Grand Line**

_**Author's note:** This story is an independent sequel to my story "Reaching your goal", and there will be some things mentioned in it that comes from that story. The story is set about a year or a year and a half after "Reaching your Goal" (about 6-7 years after the Alabasta arc which is how far I've read in the manga), and was from the beginning something I wrote to get rid of my writer's block, but I like it quite a lot. The story is written mostly from Zoro's POV, because I think he's the easiest character to write…The beginning of the second part of the story is made of random flashbacks from the crew's POV and didn't necessarily happen in the order they are written (Confusing? I don't blame you for thinking that.) I just hope that Ruffy haven't turned out too much OOC._

_**Disclaimer**:I do not own One Piece or any of the characters, even though it would be great if I did… I'm just playing around with the characters and story the great Oda-sama created._

_**(Edit note:)** I added some details here and there, some dialogue...Nothing much. _

* * *

It was midday when the caravel silently left the harbor of Logue Town. The black flag with the straw hat-clad Jolly Roger fluttered in the eastern wind as the sound of cheering echoed over the water from the town. Aboard the Going Merry, no one was cheering. There was an eerie silence hovering over the ship; a silence that was only broken by the flapping of the sails and the muffled sobs coming from the upper deck, where the remains of the Straw Hat clan were standing, looking back at the island that was slowly moving towards the horizon. 

They were only five, just like the last time the ship had left Logue Town. But that time, they had been heading out on a grand adventure, not leaving that same adventure behind them. They had been young; the world had only been another obstacle in their quests. At that time, they hadn't had a clue what was waiting for them in the end of their adventure.

Over time, many people had joined the crew, all of them with their own goals and dreams. No one had protested once they decided to follow their own ways. The Captain had waved after each and every one of them, shouting "You'll always be one of us!" with that well-known wide, genuine smile all over his face. The smile that could cure any bad mood. But where was that smile now when they needed it? Where were those black eyes, whose curious gaze seemed to be able to pierce through your soul?

By the railing in the stern of the ship, four of the crewmembers were standing, still following the island with their eyes as it steadily grew smaller.

Sanji was standing to the left, his hands in his pockets and a forgotten cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth. His face seemed to be carved in stone as he stared out over the water towards the island, his blond bangs falling into his eyes, catching the tears before they could roll down over his cheek.

Next to him, Nami was standing, hugging herself as she tried hard not to break out in hysterical sobs. Her long, orange hair danced over her back when her body was shaking violently from held-back tears.

To her right, Usopp was leaning against the railing, tears running down his cheeks. As he wiped his long nose against the semi-long sleeve of his shirt, he glanced to his right at the little reindeer who was sitting on the railing next to him. Putting his arm around the reindeer's shoulders, he met the little doctor's eyes for a moment before turning his gaze towards the island again.

Chopper felt new tears welling up in his eyes as the marksman put his arm around his shoulders. There was something about the man's touch that felt like a door closing behind them all. It felt like a definite end to something great.

Letting his tears flow freely, the reindeer threw his head back and cried out all the pain and sorrow inside him loud and clear.

On the rail outside the lounge, turned away from the others, Zoro was sitting cross-legged, absentmindedly polishing his white katana. He could hear the footsteps coming down the stairs, but didn't turn around. The footsteps continued down the stairs to the main deck where the crewmembers scattered. Nami sat down next to the bow of the boat, looking up at the wooden sheep's head; Usopp and Chopper headed down below deck, probably to work in the workshop or something like that. Sanji… Sanji was standing below Zoro and stared darkly at him. Zoro ignored him for a moment, while searching the blade for cuts or scratches. But after a while, the cook's stare was starting to burn a hole in his forehead.

"What?" he asked, sounding a bit more irritated than he first had intended. He sheathed Wadou and followed the cook with his eyes as the blond man climbed the stairs. Soon, the cook was standing right behind him, but Zoro didn't turn around.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Sanji asked, his voice strangely thick and hoarse.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Zoro lied, knowing very well what the cook was talking about.

"Like hell you don't know what I'm talking about!" the cook yelled and Zoro could almost hear the tears that were threatening to well up in his voice. That was something that made the swordsmaster feel very uncomfortable.

"He is **gone**, Zoro," Now the cook's voice had lost all its force. "He's gone and the only thing you do is sit there with those stupid swords as if nothing happened over there. Do you even care that he died today?"

Zoro clenched his teeth, not able to fully ignore the burning sensation in the corners of his eyes. He didn't reply, but shook his head lightly as an attempt to let the man know that he wasn't interested in talking about the day's events. Sanji seemed to notice that gesture, but interpreted it wrong, because he made a choked sound before starting to yell again.

"You- you fucking piece of shit!"

A familiar whistling sound was heard close to the swordsmaster's ear, but Zoro raised his hand and grabbed hold of Sanji's ankle, putting a halt to the kick without getting thrown off the rail. His grip around the cook's ankle tightened until his fingers were white.

"Bastard…" Sanji hissed between clenched teeth, without trying to get free from Zoro's tight grip around his ankle. "You filthy bastard, you just let him die. You could easily have freed him or let one of us free him, but you just let him die! Once you met your goal, you have no need for him any longer. You're the strongest in the world, there's no need for any of us, isn't that true?"

"Sanji-kun, stop it!"

Zoro looked down towards the main deck, where Nami, Usopp and Chopper were standing, worry printed all over their faces. Chopper was hiding behind Usopp's legs, looking up at the two men with a frightened look in his eyes. Zoro shook his head.

"Let him speak," he said shortly, glancing at Sanji. "I guess hearing him out is the only way to shut him up."

The cook's visible eye was wide open, white-hot fury blazing out from the pupil of his eye. He twisted his body to the left, sending enough force to his leg to pull Zoro backwards off the rail and slam his body into the floor by his feet. The swordsmaster didn't move, but looked up directly at the cook, coughing from getting the wind knocked out of him.

"Aren't you even going to defend yourself, Zoro?" the cook hissed.

"Why should I defend myself?" Zoro asked coldly, holding back another cough. "You're right, I did let him die. And do you know what? If I had the chance to do it again, I'd still let him die."

With a fierce cry, Sanji aimed a kick to Zoro's side, which sent the swordsmaster crashing through the wooden rail and into the large mast at the center of the ship, causing it to sway violently as the green-haired man fell to the deck below. Nami, Usopp and Chopper gave up frightened cries of shock and ran up to the man by the mast. Zoro gently pushed them aside and looked up at Sanji, who jumped down onto the deck, his rage radiating from him like the heat from the stove inside the lounge.

"I hate you." he growled.

"Good." Zoro replied, untying his swords from his waistband after he made sure that they were unharmed by the kick. Handing the swords to Usopp with the comment "Drop them and you'll be sorry", he got up to his feet, his ribs aching from the sharp kick.

"What do you mean by that? Are you proud of what you did? Maybe you were the one who helped the Marine to catch him?"

Zoro could hear the other three crewmembers back away as he parried another of the cook's kicks, the heel of the black shoe slamming against his lower arm with enough force to almost break the bones in the arm.

"Pirate Hunter Zoro, wasn't that what you used to be called? Old habits die hard, don't they?"

Hiding behind the mast, Nami, Usopp and Chopper were watching the two men fighting. Nami folded her arms across her chest and was about to step out to force them both to stop when Usopp grabbed her by the shoulder and shook his head. Chopper mimicked Usopp and shook his head as well.

"No, Nami. Let Zoro handle this, he knows what he's doing… I think…" Usopp said, not exactly succeeding in sounding very confident. Nami looked at the long-nosed man, sighed and let her arms fall to her sides.

"I hope you're right."

As he failed to dodge, Zoro received a sharp kick to the chest which sent him flying into the mast again. This time, he found himself temporarily stunned. When he regained the ability to move, Sanji had him pinned against the mast, a shiny black leather shoe pressing against his throat. The cook was staring at him, his visible eye glazed with tears and his jaw trembling from being clenched too tight.

"Why aren't you fighting back?" he demanded to know.

Zoro smirked.

"Tell me something," he said with a serious voice. "Right now at this moment, are you thinking of how much you hate me or how much you miss Ruffy?"

The question seemed to have hit the cook right in the chest. He stumbled back, a confused look on his face, but seemed to gather himself fairly quickly. Zoro sighed and leaned forward over his lightly bent knees. Sanji fished out a cigarette and a box of matches from his pocket, but his hands were shaking so bad that it took him a while to light the cigarette.

"Stupid, shitty swordsman…" he muttered.

Zoro snorted and shifted slightly to ease the pressure against his sore ribs.

"Pathetic love cook…"

The swordsmaster could hear the rustle of clothes as the other three emerged from their hiding-place. As he looked over his shoulder, he was met by the face of the long-nosed marksman who was holding his three swords in his arms. When his eyes fell on the ridiculous bright blue and white headband the man was wearing, he couldn't hold back a barely visible smile. He took the swords as the marksman handed them over and leaned them against the mast next to him as he got up to his feet again.

"Zoro?" The thin voice was barely audible, but Zoro could have heard it in the middle of a storm.

"Hmm?" He turned his head, looking at the little reindeer who was hiding behind Usopp's legs again.

"Did you… I mean… back in that town, did you…?"

"Did I let him die even though I or any of you could have freed him?" Zoro asked in return, keeping his voice gentle. "Yes, I did."

"But why?"

Zoro's eyes darkened. He wasn't in the mood to be questioned, not after having to keep his temper while receiving kick after kick from that damn cook. But he should have known that someone was going to ask about it. Sighing, he covered his eyes with one hand as he gathered himself.

"Because freeing him would have interfered with his way in life."

Nami made a choked noise that sounded almost like a cat's meow.

"What do you mean by that? His way in life?"

Zoro sighed again, missing the days when no one asked questions. But in those days, Ruffy had been there, and information hadn't been the most important thing on the ship.

"When I joined this clan, I made Ruffy promise that he would never do anything that would cause him to stand in my way when it came to my personal quest in life. And that vow goes the other way around as well."

Zoro's head snapped to the side as the palm of Nami's hand slapped across his face. He didn't look back for a moment, feeling the tingling feeling in the side of his cheek. Nami was staring at him with a look on her face that was similar to the look on Sanji's face earlier. To Zoro, it was an improvement; Nami being angry was a lot better than Nami crying.

"He's dead!" she screamed. "He has always been so happy just to be alive and to live in the moment. And you let him die because of some stupid promise you made when you were kids?"

"He didn't have anything to live for anymore!" Zoro hissed, picked up his swords and turned towards the door in the deck that led down to the men's quarters. "Except for us and what is left of our goals, he had nothing left…"

The blond cook stepped in front of him to block his way. Zoro looked at him, feeling no interest in fighting anymore at that moment.

"Of course he have something to live for, you shitty swordsman! He is looking for the One Piece and is going to become the King of pirates!"

"And when he reach that goal?" Zoro demanded. "What does he have left then?"

There was no reply. Zoro shook his head and pushed Sanji aside before opening the door in the floor next to the mast. As he started to climb down, he looked up at the others.

"Check the ship's course and get down here. I think I should show you something…"

Down in the men's quarters, Zoro kneeled by a large chest in the corner of the room, under one of the hammocks that was still hanging from the hooks in the wall and the ceiling. As he opened the lid, he could hear the other crewmembers climbing down into the room. From the chest, he took the folded black cloth that was lying on top of all the other trinkets and junk and turned around.

"Do you remember that rocky island we came to, when the clan was still intact?" he asked, holding the cloth with both hands over his chest. "The last island we landed on while we were all together?"

The other four nodded, but didn't approach the swordsmaster.

"Yes, Ruffy went off on his own to some cave where he thought the One Piece was hidden, like on the other deserted islands we came to after Raftel, but he came back empty-handed as usual. Didn't he?" Nami looked at Sanji and Usopp who were standing right next to her. Sanji shrugged lightly, tapping the ashes from his cigarette onto the floor.

"I don't remember if he had something with him, but he was acting really weird when he first came back. He was… so distant. But then he went back to the ship and stayed there for a few minutes, and when he came back, he was back to his old self again. I didn't think much of it back then. I just thought he was being Ruffy…" The cook's voice trailed off; apparently he was unable to continue. Zoro nodded.

"He came down here. I was lying in my bunk trying to get some sleep after dinner when he came down, holding this…" He held up the folded cloth in front of him. "… in his hand and he put it in his chest without saying anything. When I asked him if he had found anything, he just said something evasive without even looking at me…"

"What is that?" Usopp asked, his voice trembling as he nodded towards the cloth in Zoro's hand.

Zoro sighed and unfolded the black cloth, revealing the pirate flag that had once belonged to the Pirate King himself. Usopp, Nami, Sanji and Chopper gasped in unison as they stared at the flag.

"But that…" Usopp stuttered.

"He didn't…" Nami tried, but her voice was choked up.

"That damn idiot!" Sanji muttered, his eyes strangely glassy again.

"Why didn't he tell us?" Chopper whispered, tears streaming down his face again.

Zoro shook his head and hanged the flag over the hammock next to him before he kneeled by the chest again.

"Because he is Ruffy." he muttered.

There was an awkward silence, Then Usopp folded his arms across his chest and looked at the others.

"What do we do now?" he asked.

"I think that decision is up to you, Usopp," Nami said monotonously, putting her hand on his shoulder. "You're the replacement captain, don't you remember?"

The marksman looked at her, shaking his head slowly.

"Oh, I remember." He said sadly. "But I don't think I can make the right decisions, not like Ruffy can. I was just being a stupid kid when I decided that."

"Then you have nothing to fear, Usopp, " Sanji commented, giving the marksman a pat on the back. "You're still a stupid kid, that hasn't changed over the years." The marksman sent an icy cold glare towards the cook, but then he smiled weakly.

Zoro got up from the chest, his back still turned towards the others.

"The way I see it, there are two things we can do at the moment. One: we all return home to our islands – or restaurants – and live our lives there…" He turned around, the old straw hat with the red band in his hands. "Or two: we return to the Grand Line and finish what that idiot started. I know for a fact that there is at least a giant whale, a princess and several pirates who probably would like to hear about his death from us instead of reading about it or hearing rumors. I also think that we should return this flag to its rightful place."

He held out the hat towards the marksman, offering one of his rare smiles. The marksman took the hat and looked at it for a moment. Then he looked around with a smile shining through the tears in his eyes.

"To the Grand Line then. For Ruffy."

Zoro reached out his left hand and put it on the hat in Usopp's hands.

"For his strength."

Nami followed Zoro's example.

"For his heart."

"For his courage." Usopp added.

"For his trust." Sanji said as he put his left hand on the brim of the hat.

Chopper reached up to put his left hoof on the hat, tears flowing in a seemingly endless stream from his eyes.

"For… his family."

At that moment, not even Zoro could hold back the tears, and he didn't bother to curse himself for being weak in that moment. The five pirates were standing there below deck, their hands on the old hat with tears rolling down their cheeks without saying anything. After a while, Zoro removed his hand from the hat, rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand before he reached for his swords. Unsheathing Wadou, he held out the sword in front of him towards Usopp. The marksman looked nervous, but didn't flinch or even move.

"Well then, 'Captain Usopp'," Zoro said calmly. "You have my swords, the strongest in the world.I'll follow you as long as you need me."

"You have my kicks and my cooking," Sanji said, putting his hands in his pockets. "Make sure that we find All Blue this time."

"And my maps," Nami added, smiling towards the new Captain. "Don't forget that we must visit the other oceans as well."

"And you have my miracle medicine!" Chopper cried out, jumping up and down by their feet.

Usopp closed his eyes as the others spoke, and when he opened them again, there was a new determination in those eyes that had never been there before. Until the day he died, Zoro could swear that he could see Ruffy in those eyes- in all of their eyes -but he would never tell anyone. The marksman walked across the room and carefully placed the straw hat over the flag that was hanging over the hammock next to Zoro.

"I thought I gave an order, Straw Hat pirates!" he growled with a faked annoyed tone in his voice as he turned around to look at the crew. "Set the sails, we're going to the Grand Line… Again!"

The call of "Aye-aye, Captain!" followed by a howling cheering echoed between the walls of the room long after the pirates left it and headed up on deck.

A sudden change of the ship's course caused the things in the room to shake. Swinging slowly in the silence that followed, the straw hat lay on top of the pirate flag in the hammock; a symbol of dreams and hope, but also a symbol of family and undying loyalty. A memory of the greatest man who ever set his sandal-clad foot on the face of the earth. A man who would always be remembered by the ones who loved him.

* * *

"_Hai, Usopp!"_

_The marksman looked up from the pistol he was repairing. In front of him stood the Captain, his face decorated with the largest smile he had ever made. In his outstretched hands, the Captain held a blue and white band with the word 'Usopp' written on it in dark blue letters._

"_What's this?" was all Usopp could think of saying._

"_I got this on the last island we landed on," Ruffy said, handing the band to the surprised sniper. "Yasopp had one of these when I last saw him and I thought that you would want one as well."_

"_Thank you…" Usopp said, accepting the band, surprised that the man who forgot the names of the islands they passed as soon as they left the portscould rememberwhat the sniper of Shanks' pirate clan had looked like after almostthirteen years. Removing his goggles and the old brown bandana, he tied the blue and white band around his forehead, to Ruffy's grand delight. The Captain laughed and pointed to the small mirror located in one corner of Usopp's workshop._

"_You look just like him," he said quietly once he had calmed down a bit. "Yasopp."_

"_Do you think so?" Usopp asked excitedly, but his smile faded as he saw the change in the Captain's face. "What's wrong?"_

_Ruffy shook his head and looked at Usopp with his normal warm grin._

"_Nothing." But then he suddenly looked serious, which threw Usopp somewhat off his guard. "Usopp?"_

"_Yes?"_

"_If something happened to me, would you make sure that the others would be alright?"_

_The marksman stared at the Captain. He didn't like the way the conversation had turned; the look in the Captain's black eyes made him feel sure that the man wasn't fooling around this time._

"_Of course," he said, forcing a smile. "Trust Captain Usopp!"_

"_Will you make sure that Shanks gets his hat back, too? If something happened to me?"_

_Usopp felt his gut twist uncomfortably, but he forced a nod that seemed to please the Captain. Ruffy leaned over the marksman's shoulder to look at the pistol on the small table._

"_What are you doing?"_

"_Er… just fixing the trigger," Usopp stuttered, shaking his head to adjust to the sudden change of subject._

"_Why? Is it broken?"_

_Usopp smiled at Ruffy's curious look. He knew pretty well what that look meant, and decided to go along with it to leave the uncomfortable questions behind him. Even though neither of them were teenagers any longer, Usopp thought that it was comforting to know that Ruffy –like himself - hadn't changed much over the years. They could still spend hours telling stories and laughing at Zoro and Sanji getting their asses kicked by Nami when she was fed up with their fighting. _

"_That's just it. I can't find anything wrong with it, but if I were to use it, the bullet would turn around in mid air and go straight for my head. Look at that wall over there," He pointed at the wall on the other side of the room, where four bullets had dug themselves into the wood when he had tried the pistol earlier. _

"_I was standing with my back towards it and aimed at those cans on the shelves up there. " He nodded towards some tin cans that were stacked on one of the shelves above his head. "But when I fired at the cans, the bullet turned and came straight for me. It's a good thing that I have whip-like reflexes, or I would have been dead."_

_Ruffy looked absolutely fascinated by this new story. He sat down cross-legged on the floor and demanded to know more details and what could have happened to the weapon. Usopp told the story of the evil wizard Mortok who he had defeated once together with the three kids back when he lived in Syrup Village. Mortok was the only one who could have enchanted the pistol to try to kill him once and for all. When they were both absorbed in the story that unfolded as Usopp was talking, the memories of the questions Ruffy had asked earlier vanished into thin air._

* * *

"_Nami? Sanji?"_

_The navigator looked up from her newspaper where she sat under a large parasol at the prow of the boat. The cook straightened his back just as he was offering Nami a fruit drink. On the wooden figure-head, the Captain was sitting, looking at them with a strange expression on his face._

"_What's the matter, Ruffy? Thank you, Sanji-kun." Nami said as the folded the newspaper and accepted Sanji's drink._

"_Do you miss the others? The ones who left us?" Ruffy asked, his voice unnaturally neutral._

_Nami and Sanji looked at each other._

"_You mean Robin and the rest who had to leave for their own quests?" Nami asked in return. The Captain nodded quickly._

"_Do you miss them?" he asked again, more eagerly this time. It seemed like he really needed an answer to this question._

"_Of course we miss them, Ruffy. Why do you ask that?" Nami wondered, taking a sip of her drink and complimenting it to Sanji's great delight. The Captain just shrugged and threw himself onto the next question._

"_Would you miss me?"_

_The question caught both Nami and Sanji off-guard, and at first, they didn't know what to say. Sanji was the first to collect himself._

"_Why would we miss you? You're not going anywhere without us, are you?"_

_The Captain just smiled as a reply and jumped down from the figure-head onto the deck._

"_Sanji?"_

"_Yes?"_

"_I'm hungry, when is dinner ready?"_

"_Soon," the cook said with his curled eyebrow raised a bit. "I'll call when it's done – like I always do."_

_The cook walked off, the plastic tray under his arm, leaving Nami and Ruffy by the bow of the ship. Nami looked at the Captain, who was climbing back up on the sheep's head._

"_Do **you** miss the others?" she asked him curiously. Ruffy looked at her and shook his head._

"_No. Why should I miss them when they're always with me? They are never more than a memory away from me." And with that, the Captain sat down on his throne, watching the horizon come closer.

* * *

_

"_Eeh… Ruffy? Why are you looking at me like that?"_

_The little reindeer leaned back against the back of the long-legged chair he was sitting on by the table below deck. He had been mixing ingredients for more cold medicine since they were getting closer to a winter island again, when Ruffy had appeared next to him, staring silently as Chopper worked. The Captain tilted his head where he sat cross-legged on the wooden operation table next to the doctor._

"_Is that the plant you picked before?" he asked, pointing at the herbs lying next to the mortar. With 'plant' he seemed to mean the rare herbs Chopper had found on the last island they landed on – three weeks earlier._

"_No, that herb is over there," the doctor said, nodding towards one of the drawers of a small desk in a corner. "But don't touch it; I haven't had the time to find out what it can do yet, it might be poisonous._

"_Can I help you with anything, Ruffy?" the doctor asked as the Captain continued to stare at him._

"_Oh, yeah… Um…" the black-haired man laughed as he scratched the back of his head. "I guess I forgot what it was."_

_Chopper chuckled and shook his head. The next thing he knew, he had Ruffy's hand right below his blue nose. In the palm of the hand lay half a chocolate chip cookie. When Chopper looked up at the Captain, he was met by the encouraging gaze in the man's eyes._

"_I took them when Sanji wasn't looking," he stated casually. "Well, there were more to begin with, but they were so tasty."_

_The doctor nodded and took the cookie from the captain's hand, nodding with delight as he put the cookie in his mouth and felt the sweet taste fill his mouth._

"_Chopper?"_

_The doctor looked up again, his mouth filled with cookie crumbs and chocolate chips. The serene look in the Captain's eyes made him feel worried._

"_Do you like it here with us?"_

"_What? Of course I do!" Chopper said, trying not to spray cookie mush over the Captain when he spoke. "Going with you was the best thing I could ever have done!" When he had said that, he looked away, surprised over what he had said. He hadn't intended to sound so overly excited._

_Ruffy smiled and was about to say something when footsteps were heard in the stairs. The Captain's eyes widened even more than usual and he jumped down from the table._

"_If anyone asks, I was never here. Especially if Sanji asks."_

_Then, he bolted out of sight, headed for the women's quarters, probably going to use the emergency door to get to the men's quarters without having to get up on deck. Chopper looked after him, the sight of the twenty-two year-old man acting so childish never ceased to amaze him. The only thing that seemed to have changed about him was the dark bristle along the line of his jaw._

_Two seconds after Ruffy had disappeared out of the room, Sanji burst into the room, demanding in a very scary and convincing way to know where the food thief was. Chopper didn't have much choice than to tell Sanji that the Captain was hiding in the anchor deck, but that the cook would have to hurry to catch him.

* * *

_

"_Zoro… Oi, Zoro, wake up!"_

_At first, the swordsman didn't move, hoping that the annoyingly persistent man would give up and go bother someone else. But the, after a few minutes of hearing the Captain's voice repeat his name over and over again in different tones, he groaned and opened one eye. He was met by the Captain's face upside-down only centimeters from his own face. The black-haired man laughed and withdrew his head. Zoro looked up and found him sitting cross-legged on the railing just above the swordsman's head, his precious hat in his lap._

"_Great! You woke up!" the Captain said with a smile._

"_What do you want?" Zoro asked, his eyes never leaving the Captain's face. There was something about the man that was different, even though it could be because of the weird angle in which he was looking up at the man. No, he had known Ruffy for too long to avoid seeing when something bothered him._

"_Nothing really…"_

_The swordsman sighed._

"_You woke me up for nothing? That's something I would have expected Sanji or Usopp to do, not you."_

"_Can I ask you something?" the Captain asked, his hands clutching the straw hat._

"_I guess you can," Zoro said carefully. When Ruffy wanted to ask a question, you had to be prepared to hear anything._

"_If anything happened to me, would you still protect the others?"_

_The swordsman had to admit that he had been ready for any question, even the really weird ones, but not the one leaving the Captain's lips._

"_What kind of question is that?"_

_The look Ruffy gave him next wasn't pleading, but more demanding._

"_Would you protect them, Zoro? Tell me; yes or no?"_

_Zoro sighed, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand. _

"_Yes, damn it. Yes, I would protect them with my life."_

_The captain nodded and smiled brightly again before he jumped down from the railing, hesitating for a moment before he pressed down the hat over the swordsman's head._

"_Good." he said, turning away._

_Zoro lay still for a moment before calling for the Captain's attention. When the black-haired man turned around with his large eyes shining with curiosity, Zoro's question almost died on his lips. But the question was one that he felt he needed to know the answer to._

"_If something happened to you… Would I be the one to blame because I couldn't protect **you**?"_

_Ruffy shook his head, still smiling._

"_No. Watch my hat for a moment, will ya? I'll be right back with some food."_

_The swordsman nodded. As he heard the man's footsteps over the deck away from him, he put his hand on top of the hat on his head, feeling the many stitches in the rough material where Nami had mended it so many times before. He moved up against the railing, his back leaning against the wood as he pushed the hat forward over his eyes to shield them from the sun. There was no need to try to figure out why the Captain was behaving the way he did. After so many years, you got used to the whims of the Captain, and nothing really seemed to surprise you anymore. Zoro wouldn't be surprised if the promised food was already gone when Ruffy returned for his hat. Things wouldn't be the same if it wasn't. The swordsman smiled when he heard a crash coming from the lounge and the Captain's laughter followed by the irritated voice of the cook as he tried to break his record in cramming the largest amount of obscenities into one sentence without repeating himself._

_That was also one of the things that made life aboard the Going Merry worth living.

* * *

_

The man was calm as he climbed the stairs to the scaffold, accompanied by two Marine soldiers on each side of him, both in front and behind him. He could hear the sounds of the crowd like through a thick mist as the people cheered.

The view from the scaffold was familiar. He had been up there once before, years ago before they entered the Grand Line. But the man looked around over the square of the town, taking in everything he saw with the curiosity of a child. Then his eyes fell on the familiar figures standing by the wall of a large house at the far corner of the square, and he smiled. A brief moment before he had been taken from the prison out to the square, he had feared that they had obeyed his order to set sail without him. After what he had said, he wouldn't have blamed them for leaving.

_"I'm staying here; I'm tired of traveling with you. You can take that stupid boat and sail to hell if you want. I don't care about any of you, just go to hell!"_

When he had walked into the city he didn't know the name of that day, he had been taken by the Marines, just like he had expected. Just to make sure that they would notice him, he had walked up to the small marine fort and punched one of the guards. He had been shipped out of the Grand Line to Logue Town the day after, and somehow, he had known that his ship had followed them on a distance.

There they were; the green-haired swordsmaster with the little blue-nosed reindeer perched on his shoulders, the blond cook with his hands in his pockets and the orange-haired navigator leaning on the long-nosed marksman's shoulder. They were all there, and even if he couldn't see their faces because of the distance, he knew that they were looking directly at him.

Suddenly, as if on a given signal, the noise from the crowd faded and a complete silence fell over the town, only broken by the distant crashing of the waves in the harbor. A Marine, heavily decorated with medals, told the black-haired man to say his last words. The man nodded and took a deep breath.

"My name is Monkey D. Ruffy," he said with a voice that echoed all over the silent square. "Many years ago, I set out on an adventure, starting from this very town with the best crew anyone could ever find. We've been through a lot together, and not a single one of them have ever let me down, not even when they followed their own ways…"

He glanced to his left and smiled at the pink-haired, bespectacled Marine, whose name he had forgotten years ago. The Marine was holding one of the long ceremonial swords in his hands, but the look in his eyes showed clearly that he hadn't completely forgotten about the pirate.

"… a real man or woman does what he or she thinks is right, even if it means that he or she risks their own life by doing so."

He looked back out over the crowd, glad to see his five friends walking away in a subdued manner, one or two of them almost pushed forward by the swordsmaster. They were all walking with their left arm raised in the air, fists clenched and their eyes turned away from the Captain.

The man was forced to his knees up on the scaffold, but he continued to speak.

"I have heard many people say that the age of the pirates is over, but I disagree. The One Piece is still out there, I have seen it myself. And out there on the ocean, somewhere in the Grand Line, there are fourteen men and women who already know where it is. I dare everyone in the world to go out there and find the treasure. The age of the pirates lives on!"

As he felt the cold steel of the swords press against his throat, he grinned. There was nothing he regretted about his life. He had seen his nakama grow stronger and reach their goals and by doing that, he had reached his own goal. In a way, this had been part of the plan all along. What other way was there to end a grand adventure like the one he had been out on? What other way to die could be better for the King of Pirates?

"Bon Voyage, my friends," he whispered. "I'll always be with you, only a memory away."

That day, the age of the pirates truly was reborn, just like the lust for adventure and treasures. It was the day when the young pirate captain Monkey D. Ruffy followed in the footsteps of the legendary Gold Roger with a wide, warm smile on his face.

_End._


End file.
